Personal computers, such as the Gateway 2000 personal computer, typically come equipped with a pointing device such as a touch pad or a mouse. Furthermore, laptop computers, such as the Gateway Solo, increasingly come equipped with a pointing device built in, which is more convenient for a user of the computer than if he or she were always forced to plug in an external pointing device in the back of the computer. Keyboards for desktop computers are mirroring this trend, and are increasingly including a built-in pointing device such as a touch pad as well. A pointing device allows the computer user to, among other things, control a pointer on the screen in a windows-based operating environment, such as Microsoft Windows 3.11 or 95.
A touch pad is a touch-sensitive pad. The pad detects the positions at which the user is moving his or her finger on the pad, and conveys this information to the computer. The computer then moves the pointer based on the information. The touch pad typically allows the "clicking" of a button within a window in the windows-based operating environment in one of two ways. First, the touch pad may have separate buttons for this function. Second, the touch pad may allow the user to tap the pad to effect a click.
A mouse is a device that has freedom of movement within a two-dimensional plane. The mouse detects the direction, and typically the speed, in which the user is moving the device, and conveys this information to the computer. The computer then moves the pointer on the screen in the corresponding direction, with the corresponding speed. The mouse typically allows for clicking via one or more separate buttons located on the mouse.
Regardless of which pointing device is installed on a particular computer, there are situations in which the user needs to disable the pointing device. Many users adopt a hand position over the keyboard that increases the likelihood that the pointing device will be accidentally touched. For example, many users place their thumb below the space bar so that the bar can be easily pressed when needed. However, laptop computers with integral pointing devices, as well as keyboards with integral pointing devices, typically position the pointing device in just this same place. Thus, the potential for such users to accidentally press the pointing device is quite high.
Furthermore, the user may have more than one pointing device at his or her disposal. This is frequently the case where a user using a laptop computer having an internal touch pad on a desktop plugs in an external mouse. The user may wish to disable the internal touch pad so that only the external mouse is active, so that the potential for accidental pointer movement or clicking is diminished. However, most laptop computers do not usually allow for the disabling of an internal pointing device, and the user cannot easily unplug the device because it is internal.
The user may also have more than one pointing device at his or her disposal on a desktop computer. Even though such devices are external and hence capable of being unplugged, unplugging an unwanted or unnecessary device in such a situation is frequently difficult and undesirable. The device typically is plugged into the back of the computer, which is usually hard to get to. Furthermore, frequent plugging and unplugging of a device into a port on back of the computer may wear out the port, such that it no longer allows for a pointing device to make a stable connection to the computer.
There is a need, therefore, for providing for control of one or more pointing devices attached to a computer, so that any of the devices can be selectively disabled or enabled by a user of the computer. There is a further need for providing such control in a way that does not require the user to physically unplug a pointing device in order to disable it.